Garden Soon's garden consulting service is available in Green Tree, Allegheny County at $85–$130 for an initial site visit. Rolling South Hills terrain on the edge of the urban core. That's exactly the kind of site-specific detail that shapes what we recommend for bed placement, crop selection, and planting timing in Green Tree.
YouTube can teach you how raised beds work in general. What it cannot tell you is that the spot on the south side of your house actually only gets four hours of direct sun because the neighbor's oak canopy cuts it off by early afternoon — which we'll catch in twenty minutes of watching the light move. Generic gardening advice is usually written for zone 7 or 8, or averaged across the whole country, which means the timing information is wrong for western Pennsylvania, wrong for the WV panhandle, wrong for central Ohio. When we come to your site, we're looking at your specific drainage situation, your soil texture, whether you have a frost pocket at the base of that slope, how your water access affects where it makes sense to put beds. We're asking questions no algorithm asks: what's your water source, how far are you willing to carry a hose, do you have dogs? We've also seen the mistakes that get made repeatedly in this region — the biggest one being planting warm-season crops too early, which one late frost can wipe out entirely. Site-specific, in-person assessment gets you answers tuned to your actual conditions.
For Green Tree specifically: silt loam to clay; some areas near the I-376 corridor have been significantly disturbed by highway construction and commercial development. Residential areas have established topsoil from mid-20th century development. Drainage varies by slope position.
You keep everything we produce during the session. That means the layout sketch — drawn on site, with bed dimensions and plant placement — the written plant list with varieties and quantities, timing notes for your specific region, and our soil recommendations in writing. This isn't advice that evaporates when we leave. What you walk away with is a physical document you can refer back to all season, bring to a nursery, or hand off to someone helping you build the beds.
Step one is a short call before we ever come out — we want to know roughly what you're hoping to grow, whether you have existing beds or are starting from scratch, and what your site looks like. Step two is the site visit itself, which runs about an hour and a half to two hours. We walk the yard together, map the sun across different spots, look at the soil, assess drainage, talk through layout options. Step three is where it comes together: we sketch a garden plan on paper right there on site, including bed dimensions, paths, and what grows where. We build out a plant list specific to your conditions — varieties that perform in zone 6, quantities that fit your space. We go through timing in detail: what to start in March, what to wait on until after last frost, how to succession plant lettuce so you're not drowning in it one week and out of it the next. Step four is optional: a follow-up visit two to three weeks in, when you have questions that didn't exist until you started digging.
The initial consultation ($85–$130) covers a full site visit of one and a half to two hours, sun and drainage assessment, a hand-drawn layout sketch, a written plant list with region-appropriate varieties, timing guidance for your last frost zone, and soil amendment recommendations. You walk away with documents in hand. The full garden plan with follow-up ($225–$375) includes everything in the initial consultation plus a more detailed written design plan and a second site visit two to three weeks later, when questions have had time to develop. If you've already had a consultation and just need us back for a specific issue or a season check-in, a standalone follow-up visit is $65 to $95 for an hour on site. Remote consultations — phone or video, useful for off-season planning or customers outside our regular service area — are $50 to $75 per hour. All pricing is honest and upfront; we discuss scope on the initial call before anything is scheduled.
Yes — Garden Soon provides in-person garden consulting in Green Tree. We come to your property, walk the site together, and produce a plan specific to your conditions. Call (724) 201-9484 or use the contact form to schedule.
We start by walking the yard together and mapping where direct sun actually falls through the day — that determines where beds can go and what will produce well. Rolling South Hills terrain on the edge of the urban core. From there we sketch a layout on paper during the visit and put together a written plant list matched to your conditions and what you want to grow in Green Tree.
Absolutely — existing beds are a great starting point, and a lot of what we do is working with what's already there rather than starting from scratch. We'd look at what soil is in the beds, how they're draining, whether they're placed in the best sun for what you want to grow, and how to set up a planting plan that actually uses the space well. Sometimes minor adjustments to placement, soil mix, or crop selection make a big difference in what those beds produce.
Yes, soil is a core part of what we cover in a consultation. For raised beds, we recommend a mix of roughly one-third compost, one-third topsoil, and one-third coarse perlite or vermiculite — that combination drains well, holds moisture without getting waterlogged, and gives roots the air they need. For in-ground gardens, we look at what's there, test the texture, and talk through what amendments make sense for your specific soil before you plant.
Yes — stand-alone follow-up visits are available at $65 to $95 for an hour on site, and we schedule them when something specific comes up rather than on a fixed calendar. If you're seeing blossom end rot on your tomatoes, something is eating your plants, or you're trying to figure out what to do with beds once your spring crops finish, those are exactly the situations a mid-season visit is useful for. The full garden plan package also includes a follow-up visit built in.
Customers who do a garden consultation in Green Tree often connect with these other services:
Garden Soon
Licensed & insured in PA · Rated 4.8★ on Google
Providing Vegetable Garden Design in Green Tree, PA and surrounding areas.